Spider-Man Peter, Enters the Scene!

After working out for a while and playing games by himself for a bit, Toby went to sleep promptly at nine that night.

"Oh, shit!"

"Damn it, damn it! What's going on? Stop spraying everywhere!"

The next morning, Toby woke to Peter's startled cries from next door.

Toby slowly sat up in bed. Amid the continuous thumping sounds of Peter causing trouble next door, he calmly got dressed and brushed his teeth before opening his door and turning the knob to Peter's room.

Toby glanced at the alarm clock smashed to pieces on Peter's bedside table.

Then he looked toward Peter in the bathroom, who was desperately trying to plug the pipe that had been spraying water nonstop ever since the faucet had been pulled off, and called out:

"Peter..."

Hearing Toby's voice, Peter turned around, his expression somewhat panicked as he stammered incoherently, "Oh, Toby, I can explain this. Well, I'm not really sure what happened either, but I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Believe me!"

Naturally, Toby showed no surprise at all.

After all, he had secretly made all of this happen.

So Toby raised his wrist, and a white strand of web shot out, instantly plugging the pipe Peter had been unable to stop.

Peter stared dumbfoundedly. Pointing at Toby's wrist, he stuttered, "H-how did you do that? What was that just now?"

Toby did not answer Peter's question. Instead, he tilted his head toward the door and said, "Come with me."

With that, Toby took the lead and headed outside.

Peter had no choice but to hurry after him.

The two went downstairs, and Peter followed Toby into the basement gym, a place Toby usually came to alone.

Toby turned on the lights in the gym and, with one hand, lifted a specially made 1,000-kilogram barbell from among the wide assortment of equipment before tossing it at Peter's feet.

THUD—

"Peter, lift it."

Peter pointed at himself blankly. "Huh? M-me?"

He had just felt the floor shake violently when the barbell landed beside his feet!

And judging by the massive weight plates on either side of the barbell—ones larger than anything he had ever seen—he could easily imagine that this thing was far beyond the normal range of barbell weights!

But Toby nodded. "That's right. You, Peter Parker. Lift it."

After receiving Toby's confirmation and realizing he had really heard correctly, Peter swallowed as he stared at the barbell by his feet. "Th-then... how much does this thing weigh?"

Toby answered flatly, "Not much. Around 2,200 pounds."

"Oh, so only tw—wait, how much did you say???"

Peter initially breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized he had misheard. It was not two hundred pounds—it was over two thousand pounds!

That was a ton!

Holy shit, this barbell weighed more than a dozen times as much as he did!

At that moment, Peter suddenly realized that his cousin's strength seemed a little too abnormal!

The highest deadlift record in human history was only close to 500 kilograms, yet his cousin had effortlessly lifted a barbell that weighed more than twice that record with one hand!

Was he even human?

Peter suddenly felt as though his cousin had become a little unfamiliar to him...

Until... smack!

A familiar pain shot through his head. Watching Toby withdraw the two fingers he had used to flick him, Peter finally confirmed that this really was his cousin, not some alien impostor!

Toby patted Peter on the shoulder and said steadily:

"Peter, I know you have a lot of questions right now, and I'll tell you everything you want to know. But first, you need to lift it."

Toby's voice seemed to possess some kind of magic, gradually calming Peter's tumultuous emotions. Peter then nodded heavily at him.

It was not that Peter truly wanted to figure everything out that badly. It was because he trusted his cousin!

Ever since they were young, everything his cousin said had always made sense.

This time would be no exception!

Peter bent down and gripped the bar with both hands. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly yanked upward with all his strength!

Then Peter felt the world spin around him!

When his vision finally cleared again, Peter found himself staring at the ceiling.

Looking down, he realized that he had fallen to the floor—and the barbell was still pressing down on his chest!

What the fuck? What had just happened?

That was Peter's first question.

Then Peter looked at the barbell pressing down on his chest and instinctively cried out to Toby for help. "Oh God! My chest, my chest! Toby, help me! Hurry, help me!"

Instead of "saving" Peter, Toby crossed his arms and wore an amused smile.

"Help? Peter, have you forgotten how that thing ended up on top of you?"

"Huh?" Peter froze at that, then his clever little brain rapidly replayed what had happened.

Back then, he had thought that the barbell weighed a full 1,000 kilograms and that there was no way he could possibly lift it. So, he had planned to count it as a success if he could just pull it a little with all his strength, which was why he had immediately used every ounce of strength in his body.

And then...

Hiss—

Peter suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.

Because in his memory, he had then easily deadlifted the 1,000-kilogram barbell. And because he had used too much force, he had even fallen backward with the barbell in tow!

He? Someone who weighed less than one-tenth of that barbell? Had lifted a super-heavy barbell weighing a full 1,000 kilograms?

Was that for real?

But when Peter gripped the bar across his chest and tried to lift it, actually managing to raise it, he finally realized it was all real!

He then stood up with the barbell in his hands and threw it onto the floor. Only after the floor let out another thunderous boom and trembled did Peter snap out of his daze.

He, Peter Parker, had become a superhero?

Seeing that Peter had accepted the fact that he had grown stronger, Toby hooked the barbell's bar with his toe and flicked it back, using a clever force to precisely toss it onto the rack. He smiled and said, "How does it feel, Peter? Feels great, doesn't it?"

Peter first glanced in surprise at the storage rack behind Toby, which somehow had not fallen apart despite being smashed by a 1,000-kilogram barbell in blatant defiance of physics. Then he stared at his own hands, an excited smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, it feels great—super great! I feel like my whole body is overflowing with invincible strength, like... like I'm as strong as Superman from DC Comics!"

Hearing that, Toby's mouth twitched. He reached out and punched Peter in the chest. "Look at you, getting carried away after a little praise. You think that scrawny body of yours can compare to Superman? Forget Superman—you're still a long way from even matching me!"

Peter rubbed his chest. He had felt almost nothing when it was struck by a one-ton dumbbell just moments ago, yet Toby's seemingly light punch had caused a distinct ache. At last, he calmed down from his swelling confidence in his newfound strength. His brain defeated his muscles, and reason reclaimed the high ground.

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